ROH on HDNET 2/22/2010

ROH on HDNet – Episode 048 – 22nd February 2010

Last week was a little bit of shocker for ROH on HDNet. Ring Of Honor has been on a roll as of late, but Episode 47 certainly represented a bump in the road. Hopefully tonight will be a sharp turnaround, with the aftermath of the 8th Anniversary Show to address, as well as an ROH Tag Title Match as the Briscoes defend against the Young Bucks in Matt and Nick’s last ROH match before finishing up with the promotion to focus on their new TNA commitments. Lets join Mike Hogewood and Dave Prazak in Philadelphia, PA.

Rhett Titus vs El GenericoI’m sure these two have met on HDNet before – and given that Rhett’s record in singles matches is abysmal, I’m sure it was Generico who came out the victor on that occasion. Will Titus enjoy more luck this time around with El Generico’s head focused on entirely separate matters.

Good work from Titus early on, grounding Generico with a sweet side headlock as he looks to wind up for some of his trademark lucha stuff. He continues to dominate, but makes a mistake in letting El Generico up and slapping him in the face. The masked man flips out and roars into a barrage of punches, then chases Titus out of the ring with a somersault plancha. But, perhaps thinking about Steen, he takes too long trying to follow up with a crossbody, and misses by a sizeable distance. Knee strikes from Rhett, then an impressive head capture suplex for 2. Back comes Generico with a rope run into the tornado DDT which gets 2. Yakuza Kick COUNTERED with a big boot by Rhett, but as the Aries protégé looks to build some momentum for his flying knee strike Generico cuts him down again with the Michinoku Driver. SOMERSAULT neckbreaker gets Rhett a nearfall. Generico is pissed now, exploding out of the corner with the Yakuza Kick, then a HALF NELSON SUPLEX! But in another error, he pins Titus in the ropes and can’t get the decisive pinfall. He takes way too long thinking about what to do next, and gets TRAPPED in a small package. Titus picks up the big win at 07:28

Rating – *** – Good action between the two men, and the added storyline element of El Generico struggling to get his head in the game and making errors ensured I pushed my rating up to 3*. Solid way to start the show and comfortably better than any match from last week.

In Kyle’s lair, Colt Cabana tries to tell Durden that the problems with El Generico and Kevin Steen won’t affect his in-ring work…but we cut to Necro Butcher angrily stomping through the parking lot demanding a fight with Erick Stevens

Colt Cabana vs Bobby ShieldsShields is cannon fodder. He’s stared at the lights for a few guys on HDNet in recent months, and will do the same again tonight I’m sure. Colt will be looking to back up what he just told Kyle Durden – that for all his personal involvement in the Steen/Generico stuff, it’s not going to impact his proficiency or focus within the squared circle.

Bobby slaps Cabana for goofing off too much…so Colt plays more practical jokes on him and STILL winds up slapping him in the face. Flying Asshole scores…into the BGC. Bobby taps at 02:12

Rating – * – I’ll give a generous star to that. Although it was completely pointless, it made me audibly laugh out loud a couple of times so I must have found it entertaining on some level.

Steve Corino comes out after the match and tells Cabana to ‘be careful who you stick up for’…

Back to the parking lot where Erick Stevens arrives to brawl with Necro…with the fight spilling all the way into The Arena. Stevens winds up hitting the Oklahoma Stampede into a stack of chairs, leaving Butcher incapacitated and in need of a save from Eddie Kingston.

Highlights of the Aries/Black World Title match shown next – with Tyler now acknowledged as ROH World Champion. Jim Cornette stands by with Kyle Durden and admonishes Necro Butcher for beating up the timekeeper during that scuffle. He announces that he’s booked a big tag match for next week with Austin Aries and Kenny King set to face new World Champion Tyler Black and Roderick Strong.

Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs Young Bucks – ROH Tag Title MatchIt seems VERY early in the show to get to the main event, so either this a short episode or this match has been given a very decent time allowance. The Briscoes currently lead the Bucks 2-1 in victories – but that one victory for the Jacksons probably came at the biggest show as they scored an upset win over the 6-Time Tag Champions at Glory By Honor 8 last September. That’s a win the Briscoes have been looking to avenge.

Mark and Matt start, with Briscoe wisely trying to keep the quicker, smaller man down on the canvas. In the end they come up even and make simultaneous tags to their brothers to continue the battle. Nick gets the edge over Jay by flying around the ring and quickening the pace…but tags Matt back only for Jay to use his size advantage and muscle Jackson down against the turnbuckle in a flatliner. Flipping neckbreaker/backbreaker combo gets the Young Bucks a 2-count. Nick then gets DRILLED into the canvas with a vicious spinebuster whilst Mark hauls his brother out of the ring to introduce him to some guardrail. That opens up an injury and gives the champions an opportunity to isolate Nick from his brother. Briscoe Biel does damage to the midsection, with Jay immediately making it worse with a big double stomp. Mark then drops all his weight across Nick’s chest with a second rope senton splash. Of course Nick does eventually make the hot tag, bringing Matt in for a somersault headscissors on Jay. Nick dropkick’s Mark off the apron then joins his brother for an inverted DDT/double stomp combo for 2. Leapfrog Dropkick COUNTERED with a lariat by Jay, absolutely clobbering Jackson with that. Mark drops Matt with the urinage suplex…THEN SOMERSAULTS OVER THE TURNBUCKLES INTO A PLANCHA TO THE FLOOR! In the ring Jay gets a nearfall after a DVD on Nick. Mark lines up the Ace Crusher out of the corner…COUNTERED WITH A POWERBOMB BY MATT! That was flogging awesome, and it allows Nick to make a second crucial tag to his brother in a matter of minutes. Mark catches Matt with a Venus Strike, into an Iconoclasm for 2. Duelling ‘Young Bucks/Briscoes’ chants from the hot crowd as the two teams engage in a SUPERKICK DUEL! BOTH TEAMS DOWN! Matt blocks Mark’s Cut-Throat Driver…MORE BANG FOR YOUR BUCK GETS KNEES! AVALANCHE SPLASH MOUNTAIN NECKBREAKER! Nick makes a last second save there. Spike Jay Driller countered to one of Matt’s flash pins (they’ve pinned DCFC before) for 2. DOOMSDAY DEVICE! Briscoes retain the belts at 15:50

Rating – **** – Not a whole lot of plot, psychology or selling going on there so I imagine there’s a purist element who won’t like this – but for contemporary, fast-paced, spot-filled, totally manic tag team wrestling this really delivered. I’m not quite sure this had the storyline of their FCT Dayton match (which remains my favourite Briscoes/Bucks match – totally underrated), but in terms of doing a balls to the wall, unrelenting spotfest – this was still their best effort. Truthfully the Jacksons don’t have the chemistry with Jay and Mark that they have with the Wolves, or they had with Steen-erico…but this was a fine match for them to end their full-time gig with ROH on. They’ll be back later in the year, but for now leave, head for Orlando and will shortly be transformed into GenerationMe in TNA.

Tape Rating – *** – Big improvement on last week. In truth not many storylines were advanced (although I suppose you can count the Necro/Stevens skit as angle advancement) but two strong matches to start and end the show on make this a good hour of television. ROH fans who might not buy too many DVD’s were given a nice little snapshot of the energy that an ROH live event crowd has when they witness a big title change – hopefully prompting them to buy a few DVD’s and come to a few shows. After the train wreck that was Episode 47 it was good to see Ring Of Honor get right back into their groove here.

About Us

Wrestling Recaps is the place to go for old school wrestling reviews, and sometimes present day ones, too! The goal here is to have as many reviews as possible for people to read or to follow along as they watch a show and share their opinions as well.

The blog was created in June 2010 and in seven years the blog has continually grown. If you would like to join the Wrestling Recaps website, just send an email!